Rupiah Banda Elected Zambia's New President

Lusaka, Zambia (AHN) - Rupiah Banda, Zambia's acting president, was given a full mandate after he was elected president of the landlocked Republic of Zambia in southern Africa.

Banda, 71, is a retired politician who was pulled out from private life to act as head of government when President Levy Mwanawasa died of a heart attack in August. He will continue the remaining three years of the late president's term, which is until 2011.

Banda, the nominee of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy, won 41 percent of voters followed by Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front at 38.13 percent, and businessman Hakainde Hichilema at 19.7 percent.

Reports said Banda's victory is due to strong rural support.

According to the Financial Times, Banda vowed to make Africa's largest copper producer a "hub for investment", and pledged to diversify foreign investment beyond the mining of the metal.

Copper accounts for 60 percent of gross domestic product and employs only 60,000 people in an impoverished nation of 12 million, the FT added.